Pete Hegseth on Capitol Hill in 2025. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing an impending impeachment vote as U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Nov. 9 filed articles of impeachment.
The grounds for impeachment center on Hegseth’s handling of the Iran war, namely his disregard for congressional War Powers resolutions, along with other issues, including allegations of war crimes committed by the military in other regions of the world at Hegseth’s behest.
“By engaging in hostilities in Iran for more than 90 days without congressional authorization, Secretary Hegseth is breaking the law and must be held accountable,” Massie said.
“I’m doing this because it’s the right thing to do,” he added after discussing the articles with reporters.
According to the BBC, when asked by reporters about the impending resolution earlier Monday, Hegseth said: “We’re not worried about that,” adding that he would hold a news conference Tuesday morning “on that very topic.”
Impeaching a Cabinet secretary would be an extremely rare move for Congress, particularly given that Republicans maintain control of the House until the end of the current term in January of next year. No Cabinet member has ever been successfully impeached in U.S. history.
Under current House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)’s leadership, Massie told reporters that he remains unsure whether the measure will secure enough Republican votes, assuming all Democrats support his articles of impeachment.
Currently, there are 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The U.S. Senate requires a two-thirds vote to convict, a threshold that would be difficult to reach during the current congressional term.
Hegseth has been an adamant opponent of LGBTQ rights, both within the military and in broader civilian life. He has a military background, beginning his service in the Minnesota Army National Guard, where he served at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba and was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
After his stint in the military, Hegseth became a prominent far-right political pundit on Fox News.
Prior to his appointment to the Pentagon, where he was confirmed only after a deciding vote by Vice President JD Vance; Hegseth faced allegations of sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement, and excessive drinking.
Since taking one of the highest-ranking positions in the U.S. military, Hegseth has been at the center of a series of controversies and questionable policy decisions, including a leaked government group chat on Signal; alleged war crimes related to U.S. military strikes on alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea; unconstitutionally promoting Christianity within the military; using unmarked military planes for boat strikes; questions surrounding the use of force and rules of engagement in the 2026 Iran war; an unprecedented purge of admirals and generals; mandating testosterone screening for military personnel; and broadly removing military members with a history of gender dysphoria.
In September 2025, Hegseth directed military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico to dismantle Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) offices, identity months, and LGBTQ programs across the department, framing the shift as a return to a “warrior ethos.”
Many of his anti-LGBTQ policies come as a direct result of President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order, “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness” which bars transgender people, both current and future military personnel, from being affiliated with the Pentagon.
The impeachment effort comes days after Republicans suffered stunning losses in the midterm elections, with control of Congress set to return to Democrats. The results also mark a turning point for the Trump-Vance administration as Trump enters the “lame duck” period of his presidency, with two years remaining in his term and seemingly little support from a Democratic-controlled Congress beginning Jan. 3, 2027.
Johnson will have two days to either bring the articles to a vote, or vote to refer it to committee or to set it aside for future congressional leadership to deal with.
The Washington Blade reached out to Johnson’s office and to SPARTA (Servicemembers, Partners, and Allies for Respect and Tolerance for All), a trans servicemember advocacy group, about the impending articles of impeachment for Hegseth, but did not receive a response by publication time.
This story will be updated as new details become available.
The National LGBT Media Association represents 13 legacy publications in major markets across the country with a collective readership of more than 400K in print and more than 1 million + online. Learn more here: NationalLGBTMediaAssociation.com.
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